GB2121748A - Reconstruction method for improving man conveyor - Google Patents

Abstract

A reconstruction method for improving an obsolete escalator having a frame 9 with supporting members projecting inwardly therefrom, mounting various constituents such as an endless series of moving steps, handrails moving in synchronism with the steps, a drive unit and drive sprockets, balustrades standing upright at both sides of the steps, and rails for guiding the steps comprises the steps of: removing the constituents from the frame 9 of the obsolete escalator; removing the supporting members from the frame 9; mounting a second frame 18 in the frame 9, the second frame being provided with supporting and base members already attached thereto for supporting the various constituents of a new escalator; mounting the balustrades, drive unit, rails and so forth, as well as series of steps 13, of the new man conveyor on the second frame; and covering the gaps between the second frame 18 and the frame 9 by outer deck members secured to the second frame. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Reconstruction method for improving man conveyor The present invention relates to a man conveyor such as an escalator or an electricallydrivenfoot- path and, more particularly, to a reconstruction method for improving a man conveyor which has become obsolete.

Man conveyors such as escalators have been used as important equipments in large-scale commercial buildings, and are now finding diversifying use in various facilities such as small-scale office buildings, municipal transportation facilities, footbridges and so forth.

In recent years, various proposals and attempts have been made in the field of man conveyors, such as completion of safety measures in view of increase in the number of persons carried by a man conveyor, adoption new materials as a fruit of development of the production technic, and saving of power to cope with the demand of preservation of energy. The realization of these proposals and attempts has been accelerated by the above-mentioned diversification of use and needs of the time.

Most of man conveyors which were built in recent years employ transparent balustrades, being freed from the conventional construction design, thanks to an improvement in the friction driving technic.

Nowadays, the harmony between the architectural design and the design of the balustrade, as well as upgrading of the balustrade, is becoming an importantfactor which affects the quality or commercial value of the man conveyor as a whole. More specifically, the design of the balustrade is changing in conformity with the change of fashion. For instance, as to the design material, conventionally used aluminum alloys are being substituted by stainless steel which has an image of higher grade than aluminium alloys.

The increasing significance of the design of balustrade, on the other hand, imposes a new problem.

Namely, the opaque balustrades in man conveyors which were built 10 to 20 years ago magnifies the impression of deterioration of these man conveyors.

Thus, there is an increasing demand for the renewal of design and upgrading of these old man conveyors, particularly in balustrades.

The modern man conveyors are discriminated from old ones also from the view point of safety, as will be understood from the following explanation of construction of the moving step of man conveyor.

The conventional moving step of man conveyor consists of a tread plate provided on the surface thereof with a multiplicity of linear cleat ridges and a riser which isformed by bending athin metal sheet into a form like a drum. In contrast, in the moving step incorporated in modern man conveyor, both of the tread plate and the riser are provided with cleat ridges so that the cleat ridges of adjacent moving steps or the cleat ridges of a moving step and the stationary entrance or exit step closely mesh each other to prevent dangerous catching of clothes or human bodies thereby to avoid any serious accident, It is also a current measure to provide demarcation zones made of, for example, reinforced plastic, at both sides of the tread plate.The demarcation zone usually has yellow color to mentally warn the passengers of the access to the dangerous areas. In more advanced man conveyors, the demarcation lines provided at both lateral sides of each tread plate are protruded from the major plane of the tread plate to physically prevent the passenger's foot from accidentally approaching the dengerous areas. It is also a current measure to use strong and rigid stainless steel as the material of the tread plate and the riser, in place of the conventionally used aluminum alloys, thereby to improve the safety and durability of the moving step.

Thus, a remarkable progress has been made in latest several years in the safety measures taken in connection with moving steps. Various safety measures have been taken also in other respects such as safety devices at the handrail inlet and outlet, detector for detecting abnormal runing of the moving steps and other protective devices.

Meanwhile, the social need for saving of electric power applies also the field of man conveyors, and there is an increasing demand for effort to make an overall design for attaining economy through an improvement in the transmission efficiency of the recduction gear, reduction of the friction loss, reduction of weight of rotatable parts and so forth. In fact, such effort has attained 30 to 50% power economization as compared with man conveyors which were built 10 years ago.

As has been explained, a remarkable progress has been made in the field of man conveyor in the aspects of design of balustrade, as well as safety and economy, which in turn gives a rise to the demand for improving existing man conveyors which were built 10 or more years ago and now obsolete, by applying these new technics.

Roughly speaking, the reconstruction of the man conveyor can be made either by installing a new man conveyor after the removal of all parts such as bulstrades, steps and rails together with the frame which support these parts or by substituting only the bustrades, moving steps, hand rails and driving motor and gears with new ones having new functions.

However, the former way of reconstruction requires much labor, as well as much time and money, because of necessity for the removal of all parts. This problem is serious particularly when the man conveyor is used in shops or stores, because it is necessaryto keep the shop or store closed for a long time. The latter way of reconstruction also involves problems such as necessity for site-production of parts resulting in a long construction term, in order to fit new elements such as balustrades, moving steps, driving means and so forth having sizes and shapes different from those of old ones, although the scale of the work is rather small.

Accordingly, an object of the invention is to provide a reconstruction method which permits a reconstruction for improvement of a man conveyor to be accomplished in short period of time.

To this end, according to the invention, there is provided a reconstruction method for improving an obsolete man conveyor, the man conveyor having a frame supporting, through supporting members projecting inwardly therefrom, various constituents such as a series of moving steps connected in an endless form, handrails adapted to move in synchronism with the steps, a drive unit and drive sprockets for driving the steps and the handrails, balustrades standing upright at both sides of the steps, rails for guiding the steps and so forth, the method comprises the steps of: removing the constituents from the frame of the obsolete man conveyor; removing the supporting members from the frame of the obsolete man conveyor; mounting a second frame in the frame of the obsolete man conveyor, the second frame being provided with supporting and base members beforehand attached thereto and adapted to support various constituents of a new man conveyor such as balustrades, drive units, rails and so forth; mounting the balustrades, drive unit, rails and so forth, as well as series of steps, of the new man conveyor on the second frame through the supporting and base members; and covering the gaps between the second frame and the frame of obsolete man conveyor by outer deck members secured to the second frame.

The present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of an upper portion of a conventional man conveyor; Figure 2 is a perspective view of the frame of a man conveyor as shown in Figure 1; Figure 3 is a perspective view of a man conveyor which is constructed by a method of the invention through combining an old man conveyor and a new man conveyor; Figure 4 is a perspective view of an essential part of the combined man conveyor as shown in Figure 3; Figure 5 is a sectional view taken along the line V-V of Figure 4; Figure 6 is a perspective view of the internal structure of the man conveyor shown in Figure 5; and Figure 7 is a perspective view corresponding to Figure 6 but shows another embodiment of the invention.

Preferred embodiments of the invention will be explained hereinunder with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Figures 1 and 2 show a conventional man conveyor, i.e. a man conveyor before the reconstruction.

The man conveyor has steps 1 connected in an endless form and also endless handrails 2 which cooperate in conveying passengers as they are driven at a predetermined speed by means of gears 3 and 4. A driving unit 6 consisting of a motor 6a and a reduction gear 6b is disposed in a machine room 5 disposed at an upper part of the man conveyor. The arrangement is such that the steps 1 and the hand rails 2 are moved by means of chains 7 and 8 which transmit the power of the drive unit 6 derived from a gear 6c attached to the drive unit 6. The constituents mentioned above are supported by a frame 9 having a rigid truss construction, and are covered at their inner and outer sides by balustrades 10 and decorative plates 11.

The man conveyor shown in Figure 1 is of a type so-called opaque balustrade type, having balustrade panels 12 made of an opaque material such as stainless steel, painted plates or sheets of an acrylic resin. In the conventional man conveyor, the use of opaque balustrade panels 12 is essential in order to make drive wheels 4, which are the only means available in the early stage of development of man conveyor for driving the hand rails, invisible from the outside of the balustrades.

The frame 9 is a strengthening structure which serves as the foundations of the man conveyor. The frame 9 is constituted by a member 9a situated on the building, support base 9b for securing the driving sprocket 3, support base for supporting the drive unit 6, girders 9d and 9e for laternal connection, balustrade supports 9f, 99, 99, bottom plate 9i, bases 91 and 9m used in transparent balustrade type man conveyor for supporting the hand rail driving sprocket 9i and guide rollers 9k, rail support 9n, stationary step support 9p and so forth. These parts are arranged in pairs in symmetry with respect to the longitudinal axis of the man conveyor. These miscellaneous members are made integral by welding with an upper chord membrane 9A, lower chord member 9B or vertical chord memeber 9D of the frame 9.

More specifically, the balustrade supports 99 and so forth are secured to the upper chord member 9A, while the support 9b and rail supports 9n are attached to the vertical member 9D.

In this conventional man conveyor, the width W1 or distance between the upper chord members 9A is determined to range generally between 1500 and 1600 mm, in order that the step 1 and the rail 14 are accomodated by the space between the upper chord members 9A, while the machine room 5 has a depth H1 of 1000 to 1299 mm corresponding to the height of the vertially elongated reduction gear of the drive unit 6. The dimensions mentioned above are selected to have a sufficient margin in every parts, mainly from the view point of rigidity and strength of the structure and, hence, are considerably greater than those in modern man conveyors.

Under this circumstance, the present invention proposes a reconstruction method which affords an improvement or regeneration of an existing man conveyor in short period of time and with greater economy, without being accompanied any modification of the building, by making an efficient use of the frame 9 of truss structure, i.e. by mounting a new conveyor unit on the frame 9 of existing man conveyor.

Figure 3 illustrates, by way of example, a man conveyor reconstructed in accordance with the method of the invention. Briefly, this reconstructed man conveyor is constructed by removing steps, rails and other parts of the old conveyor to leave only the frame 9 of the latter, and mounting on the frame 9 a second frame 18 having a width W2 smaller than the width W1 of the frame 9, followed by mounting new conveyor constituents such as steps, rails, balustrades, step driving mechanisms and so forth having new functions. The second frame 18 is composed of an upper frame section 18a, a lowerframe section 18c and an intermediate frame section 18b which may have a split construction although illustrated as an integral unit.

As shown in Figures 4 and 5, the second frame 18 carries various man conveyor constituents produced by modern technics and having new functions, such as design parts including decorative plates 23 and balustrades constituted by balustrade panels 19, inner decks 20, outer decks 21 and guides 22, and parts including drive wheels 24, rails 25, stationary steps 26 with supports 26a, as well as parts omitted from the drawings including drive unit, transmission chains, handrail driving system and so forth.

As stated before, the outside dimensions W2 of the internal structure (structure invisible from outside) of the second conveyor is selected to be smaller than the width W1 of the frame 9 of the old man conveyor.

In order to obtain a sufficient room for accomodating the internal structure, the parts of the old man, conveyor projected laterally inwardly from the frame 9, such as the girders 9d, 9e, balustrade supports 9f, 9g, 9h, mounting 91, rail supports 9n, stationary step supports 9p and so forth are all removed from the old frame 9. Preferably, the second frame 18 is made of a shaped member having an I-shaped crosssection or a sheet provided at its upper and lower portions with flanges "a" and "b".

The second frame 18 is rigidly connected at the flanges "a" and "b" on eath side thereof to the frame 9 by means of connecting brackets 27 and 28. The rigidity of the new conveyor unit 15 is increased by various members such as balustrade supports 29 attached to the flanges "a", bases 30 attached to the inner surfaces "c" and carrying the drive wheels 24 and rail supports 31 also attached to the inner surfaces "c". Needless to say, all of other members indispensiable for the constitution of the second man conveyor, such as the support for the drive unit, base for the control unit and the base for the hand rail drive unit are secured to the second frame 18, although they are omitted from the drawings.

The construction explained hereinabove will be more readily understood from Figure 6. Constituents such as balustrade supports 29, bases 30 and rail supports 31 are secured to each side portion of the second frame 18 while the latter is in the factory. A balustrade supporting structure 34, to which a longitudinal member of the balustrade 17 is to be secured, consists of a support member 33 and supporting pieces 32 mounted on the latter. This supporting structure 34 is adapted to be secured to the upper chord member 9A of the frame 9. Since the upper chord member 9A is a strength member which extends over the entire length of the man conveyor, the balustrade supporting structure can effectively support the balustrade 17 without substantial inconvenience even if the second frame 18 is discontinuous in the longitudinal direction of the man conveyor.

In the reconstruction of the man conveyor, a complicated work is required for attaching various parts such as the balustrade supports 29, bases 30, rail supports 31 and so forth to the second frame 18 at a high precision. According to the invention, it is quite advantageous that the attaching of these parts to the second frame 18 can be made in the factory where the second frame 18 is produced, without requiring any work at the reconstruction site. Obviously, the attaching of these parts to the second frame 18 in the factory can be accomplished in shorter period of time and at lower cost than the work conducted at the reconstruction site because, in the factory, it is possible to use various efficient production facilities under a good working condition which ensures higher precision of the work.

Thus, the second or new man conveyor 15 is installed by a process having the steps of removing various members projecting inwardly from the frame 9 of the old man conveyor, mounting in the frame 9 the second frame 18 to which various parts are attached beforehand, and mounting in sequency the steps 13, drive sprockets 24 and the balustrades 14 which are formed as separate bodies. In the conventional reconstruction method, the longest time is consumed for the centering, location and keeping of final positional precision of the members directly attached o the frame 9, e.g. the rail supports 31 which are secured to the second frame 18 in the method of the invention. It is quite advantageous that the method of the invention eliminates such a useless consumption of time becaus it permits the attaching of these members to the second frame 18 while the latter is in the factory.

Usually, the circumstance does not allow to close the shop during the reconstruction. Namely in most cases, the owner of the shop is obliged to continue the business even during the reconstruction of the man conveyor, so that he has to take any measure necessary for protecting the customers from accident, as well as from fire which may be incurred by welding indispensable in the site work. From this point of view, the reconstruction method of the invention, which permits the use of the frame 18 prefabricated in the factory, offers advantages also from the view point of prevention of fire and accident.

As has been described, by the method of the invention, it is possible to conduct the reconstruction of obsolete man conveyorfor improving the design and safety, as well as for saving of energy, in shorter period of time and at lower cost than by the conventional reconstruction method.

The embodiment described hereinbefore is not exclusive and the invention can be embodied in various other forms one of which is shown in Figure 7 by way of example.

More specifically, in the embodiment shown in Figure 7, the man conveyor is divided in units of a number greater than in the embodiment explained before in connection with Figures 3 to 6. Namely, in this embodiment,units such as a support 35 for the drive unit, supports 36 for the drive wheels, rail supports 37, balustrade supports 38 and 39, supports 40 for the stationary steps are secured to the frame 9. It will be clear to those skilled in the art that this embodiment offers the same advantages as those presented by the first embodiment, namely, lightening of the work which has to be made at the reconstruction site.

Claims (5)

1. Areconstruction method for improving an obsolete man conveyor, said man conveyor having a frame which supports, through supporting members projecting inwardly therefrom, various constituents such as a series of moving steps connected in an endless form, handrails adapted to move in synchronism with said steps, a drive unit and drive sprockets for driving said steps and said handrails, balustrades standing upright at both sides of said steps, rails for guiding said steps and so forth, said method comprises the steps of: removing said constituents from said frame of said obsolete man conveyor; removing said supporting members from said frame of said obsolete man conveyor; munting a second frame in said frame of said obsolete man conveyor, said second frame being adapted to be provided with supporting and base members attached thereto and adapted to support various constituents of a new man conveyor such as balustrades, drive unit, rails and so forth; mounting said balustrades, drive unit, rails and so forth, as well as series of steps, of said new man conveyor on said second frame through said supporting and base members; and covering the gaps between said second frame and said frame of obsolete man conveyor by outer deck members secured to said second frame.

2. A reconstruction method according to claim 1, wherein said supporting and base members for supporting balustrades, drive unit and so forth of said new man conveyor are attached to said second frame beforehand in the factory in which said second frame is produced.

3. A reconstruction method according to claim 1, wherein said second frame is formed from flat sheets which are connected to said frame of said obsolete man conveyor through connecting members.

4. A reconstruction method according to claim 2, wherein said second frame is composed of an upper frame member, a lower frame member and an intermediate frame member through which said upper and lower frame members are connected to each other.

5. A reconstruction method according to claim 1, wherein said second frame is constituted by frame members each being provided at its upper and lower ends with flanges through which said second frame is connected to said frame of said obsolete man conveyor, said flanges being provided with balustrade supporting members attached thereto.